[mythtv-users] OT: Grrr Motherboards!

[Damian]

Hello all,

Sorry to start ANOTHER thread, but I feel I should whenever it's a new
question I'm asking. Let me know if I'm pissing anyone off.

Last night, I was pretty much decided on the ASUS M2N-VM DVI
motherboard. Then I read about lots of problems with the on board LAN.
No problem I thought, if it messes me about, I'll just use my current
PCI Lan card! Then I realised that there are only two PCI slots on most
of these microATX boards and I need both of them for my two Nova-T tuners.

So, change of thought .. I don't really want microATX. I've got a huge
ugly ATX case hidden away in the garage so I don't need scrimp on PCI
and IDE slots etc.

Then I started to search for standard sized ATX boards with graphics on
board (as I only have an AGP 5200 card currently). A good friend of mine
found one for me (Gigabyte GA-MA69G-S3H
<http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4LYB&CategorySelectedId=11143&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11143,405090000,356410000,42190000>) 

but unfortunately, it still only have 2 PCI slots, and it's ATI that's
on board. My projector took me months and lots of peoples help to get
working right with the nvidia drivers to I daren't try it with ATI. I
feel like sticking with nvidia.

So, not I'm thinking I should just get a motherboard without graphics on
board and just buy a cheap 7000 series nvidia card or something. It'll
probably push the price of the whole upgrade up (CPU, heat sync,
motherboard, memory and now graphics card), but seems to be the best way
to go.

That opens up everything again, so I'd love a bit of advice to narrow
down my search.

I keep yo-yo'ing between AMD and Intel, so feel free to recommend
either. I get the feeling that Intel has the edge, but AMD gives you
more performance for your money at the mid price range (which is where
I'm looking at).

I promise to stop asking about hardware soon :-)

Cheers all
Damian